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More at stake in farm bill than ag issues

In the debate over the farm bill, there's more at stake than agricultural issues.

It contains funding for rural development loans and grants provided through the United States Department of Agriculture.

Reducing those dollars would start taking away small town assets, such as nursing homes, hospital expansions, access to affordable housing, wastewater infrastructure and business development, according to St. Paul-based think tank Minnesota 2020's latest report, "Blueprints for Rural Progress."

Congress is currently rewriting the farm bill, which includes rural development funding, in a climate of sequester-induced, across-the-board budget cuts, according to MN2020.

Depending on how deep rural development cuts are in the next farm bill, Minnesota communities will have a tougher time financing these vital programs, according to MN2020.

Douglas County may feel the impact. Between 2009 and 2012, it received, on average, $1 million in grants and $16 million in loans and loan guarantees through rural development programs, according to Joe Sheeran, MN2020 communicatons director.

The Alexandria Opportunity Center, for example, received $150,000 through a revolving loan fund that allowed it to expand and renovate its building.

These potential budgeting issues come after a decade of already dwindling USDA Rural Development resources, said Lee Egerstrom, a MN2020 fellow and author of the report.

Annual appropriation cuts and sequester have reduced Minnesota development staff by one-third (32 percent) from 2003 to 2013.

Minnesota's annual federal development dollars fluctuate greatly, depending on state needs, funding availability, and a number of other factors.

According to Minnesota USDA Rural Development, the state uses in the neighborhood of $630 million to $760 million in annual grants and loans. The money typically help the state's smallest communities, most of which lack the tax base and population to afford infrastructure upgrades and development projects on their own, Egerstrom said.

"These dollars aren't handouts, but investments in rural communities that return dividends in the form of business growth, expanded access to health services, and population stability," said Egerstrom.

Al Edenloff is the news and opinion page editor for the Echo Press. He was born in Alexandria and lived most of his childhood in Parkers Prairie. He graduated with honors from Moorhead State University with a degree in mass communications, print journalism. He interned at the Echo Press in the summer of 1983 and was hired a year later as a sports reporter. He also worked as a news reporter/photographer. Al is a four-time winner of the Minnesota Newspaper Association's Herman Roe Award, which honors excellence in editorial writing.